Fox & McDonald offers a balanced approach designed to facilitate student learning by self-discovery and problem solving. The book features clear writing, detailed example problems to illustrate applications of the principles presented, and copious end-of-chapter exercises to promote self-study and comprehension by students.

The text has been thoroughly tested in the classroom, and has been improved continuously through each edition. The content is divided nearly equally among text, example problems, and end-of-chapter problems making the text exceptionally easy to use.